Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

iPlotting potatoes

This week we’re planting spuds, and Colin’s got a swag of varieties for me to plant in the iPlot. Using the bio-intensive style we’ll get nearly 30 plants in a four-metre long bed, and with a bit of crafty potato ‘tickling’ we’ll be eating new potatoes in a few months.

But there’s bad news for spud growers – there’s nasty wee bug called a Psyllid that’s invaded our shores form the US and had caused export bans on capsicum, tomatoes, tamarillos and spuds. Colin has a natural way to prevent the Psyllid getting your crops plus we ask MAF what you can do as a home gardener (PDF).

Update:

We also planted more salad greens (every two weeks to keep the crops flowing over summer), rocket , two scaloppini plants and a courgette. Next plantings will be beans, beetroots and cucumbers.